Category: Motivational

A lot of you might absolutely hate me for saying that and genuinely hate Mondays with a passion, I apologise, it was uncalled for to mention…Monday.

However, some of you might absolutely love Mondays, and jump out of your bed every morning with enthusiasm and energy. Congratulations, this article isn’t for you!

If you’ve found yourself at a crossroads in you’re career where you wish the week away, and only want it to be Friday afternoon, then you’ve definitely lost your motivation.

It’s not all doom and gloom though, you can actually change this feeling right now and turn it all around! Take control of your career and life again with these tips we’ve put together:

Appreciate – This is probably the most important point on this list. People often lose career motivation due to not appreciating what they have, and what they’ve achieved.

You might feel that you’re not achieving anything worthwhile in your current position, or maybe you’re not earning enough, however, there’s got to be something that you’re grateful for!

Take a look back on what you have achieved / accomplished, and all of the good things that have happened in your career. How did you get into your current position? Was it because you did something fantastic in the past which was praised by your employers?

This will really make you feel better, and give you that boost you needed.

Do Something About It – Sure, you might have experienced some disappointments in your career, but is that an excuse just to sit back and give up? No! Absolutely not!

You can take the ‘helm of your career’ again by doing two things. You either find a new career, one where you know you’ll be able to accomplish tasks and feel good about yourself. Or, by putting yourself into overdrive in your current position.

The worst thing you can do is…nothing at all, your career motivation will plummet even further if you do this.

When you try one of these two things you will escape this hole that you’ve found yourself in, you’ll have something new and exciting to focus on.

New Challenges – Another way to escape this rut you’ve found yourself in is by challenging yourself with new skills and tasks.

If boredom at work is damaging you, then ask your boss or manager for some new responsibilities. Get trained in a new skill, apply for a new position (internally or externally), try something new that will make your work exciting again.

Gooooaaaaals – A lack of career motivation is often due to not having any goals or direction. Think about what would make you spring out of bed in the morning with a smile on your face and set that as your goal.

Get a plan in place as to how your going to achieve this; you have to set SMART goals if you haven’t already, they will help you out immensely.

Feedback – This is another huuuuge motivator which you must, must, must push for in your career if you’re not receiving it already. You’ll get an amazing boost when you know you’ve done a good job, and the feedback can also help you to focus on skills that need working on.

It’s incredibly easy to lose your motivation without feedback, as you have no idea whether what you’re doing is up to scratch or not.

Ask your manager for a monthly meeting to discuss your progress and what needs working on and what’s doing well.

I could go on for quite a while about this subject, but I’m going to unfortunately have to end it there!

I hope you’ve found this useful and now have a plan of action to get your career motivation back.

Keep calm and stay productive!

It’s time for some more Wednesday Wisdom, today’s post is all about productivity at work and how we’re going to help you to ‘skyrocket’ it!

There’re two ways to increase your productivity, either by working more hours to ensure you get your tasks done or (the way myself and 99% of the population like to do it) by working smarter!

It’s time to time! – Timing / tracking and then limiting your tasks in my opinion is the best way to increase your productivity at work. You’ll often be surprised at how much time your spending on something and should then figure out a plan to more effectively get that task done in a shorter space of time.

I can vouch for this working, we implemented this at my last company and we saw a huge increase in productivity from the day it began!

There’s plenty of tools out there to help you such as WorkTimer, Toggl and Project Timer.

Have a break, have a [famous copyrighted catchphrase] – It might sound like the wrong thing to do, but scheduling in a break here and there really can help. This article posted on ScienceDirect discusses how brief mental breaks keep you focussed.

Give yourself a 5-10 minute break in the morning and afternoon if you can and see how it affects your performance, or be prepared to crash and burn!

Say no to multitasking – We usually think that multitasking is the way to be more productive, but it actually may be pushing you backwards rather than forwards. Researchers found that trying to do multiple tasks at once can actually result in losing time and productivity, so make sure you focus on one task at a time.

NOtifications – Try to ignore those personal phone and email notifications when they come in during work hours, instead, try to schedule in times to check them.

Prioritise for productivity – This is something else I can vouch for working, getting your tasks scheduled and prioritised! It will keep you focused and coordinated throughout the day. Even if you are assigned a random task during the day which isn’t on your list, you will still know what else needs to happen once you’ve finished it.

You also get that satisfaction of putting a line through something or checking a box once something is done.

Try out a tool like Asana or Slack and watch your productivity soar!

A tidy desk is a productive desk – I covered this in a post I wrote about stress the other week, it simply talks about getting your desk tidied up and to try and give it some colour.

Often we find ourselves with stacks of paper, stationery, and other things cluttering our desks; that’s not going to do anything for your productivity. Give yourself something interesting to look at, get a plant, a picture, anything to increase your happiness and productivity at work!

I hope this article has helped you, if you have found any of these tips useful then please leave us a nice comment below!

Stress Begone!

Stress in the workplace is not uncommon by any means, everyone suffers stress in the workplace environment from time to time!

If it’s been bothering you for a while, then it’s definitely time to take action, your career shouldn’t ever make you angry, to the point where stress starts digging in! It could be affecting your productivity, health and personal life.

We’ve compiled a list of tips on how to rid yourself of stress in the workplace once and for all, let’s make your career fun again:

1. A Well Rested Employee Is A Happy Employee – I can’t begin to tell you how important sleep is when it comes to the whole ‘beating stress’ subject! Getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep a night can and will help you almost immediately.

If you find it difficult getting to sleep, then try to go to bed earlier and earlier every night, until you hit that ‘sweet spot’ that fits in with you and your busy lifestyle / schedule.

2. Thank You For The Music – Blasting your favourite music at home (make sure you sing out loud), on the way to work (maybe don’t sing out loud for this one), and even whilst working (if your boss allows it) has an incredible effect on our emotional health, our focus, and even our decision-making process!

Determine your current listening habits, identify your preferences, establish your anchor song and get it going!

3. Clean Desk = Happy You – It’s one hundred percent true that a clean work environment is a happy work environment; if your desk is cluttered up with paper, stationery, etc, then get it off and keep only the essentials!

4. Let’s Chat – This should be one of the first things you do when you start getting stressed at work, talking about it with someone! Whether it be your Manager, a colleague, a family member or a friend, it makes a big difference getting it out in the open.

5. Hit The Gym – Exercising releases endorphins, which makes us feel happy and positive! Try exercising in the morning before you go to work and see how it impacts your day. Try to get in around 30 minutes+, 3+ times a week.

6. Eat Away The Stress! – Take a step back and look at what you’re currently eating on a regular basis that is considered unhealthy. Have a McDonalds for lunch every day and feeling awful? Swap it out for something healthier like a salad, (healthy) sandwich or pasta.

7. Smile And Say Good Morning – I’m hoping you already do this, otherwise you might be the unpopular one in the office! Make a conscious effort to smile when you come into work and say good morning to everyone; ask them how their evening was, have a nice chatty conversation before your day begins.

8. Leave Work At Work – Getting a healthy work-life balance will help you immensely; enjoy your weekends and time away from work, don’t spend it checking up on your emails / notifications every five minutes!

Try not to stay too late (if at all), as a recent study has shown that people who work late in the office have an increased risk of having a stroke or heart attack; get yourself home and relax!

If there’s anything I’ve missed off here then feel free to stick it in the comments below, it would be interesting to hear how you keep yourself calm and collected within the workplace.

Who doesn’t like a good quote here and there?

So today is Wednesday Wisdom, a day of sharing wisdom, knowledge and useful information! In following the tradition of Wisdom Wednesday (we’ll call it WW from now on so I don’t have to type Wednesday Wisdom every time I want to mention it, oh wait…) we’ve put together a small collection of motivational quotes for job seekers that we have scoured the internet for, tirelessly might I add!
Let’s begin:

“Opportunities don’t often come along. So, when they do, you have to grab them.” – Audrey Hepburn

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

“I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.” – Author Unknown

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”– Winston Churchill

“To be a great champion, you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” – Muhammad Ali

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle

“There is a way to do it better…find it” – Thomas Edison

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” – Confucius

“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” – Estee Lauder

That’s that! Good luck to all you job seekers out there! Don’t give up!

Feel free to share any of your favourite quotes for job seekers with us on here, or on our Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn pages.